


Good Business

by bookplayer



Series: Life in Stoneybrook [8]
Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Gen, Next-Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-30
Updated: 2011-10-30
Packaged: 2017-10-29 02:32:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/314862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookplayer/pseuds/bookplayer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kala Grover, Emma Newton, Janica Snowden restart the Baby-sitter's Club, but can they win the approval of Ms. Thomas herself?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There's no "previously on" for this one, because it's kind of separate. It takes place in the Life in Stoneybrook series, but it doesn't focus on the main characters. In fact, it focuses on four original characters. It's also longer then anything I've posted so far (I split it into chapters, so that it's easier to keep track of.)
> 
> For all of those reasons, I understand if you want to skip it. It doesn't affect any of the storylines introduced so far, and if the characters ever show up again I'll mention it in the author's notes when they do.

I heard music coming from my backpack and went digging for my phone. Sure enough it was the theme from Star Wars, my ringtone for numbers I didn't know.

I answered, “Hello?”

“Hi, did you put up fliers advertising babysitting?”

“Yes.” I said, digging out a pencil and paper.

“I'm Ms. Thomas, I need a babysitter for two children, my 1 year old girl and a 3 year old boy who belongs to Miss Kishi. Can you tell me a little about yourself?”

“Well, my name is Kala Grover. I'm 13. I've been babysitting for my cousins for years, and in the past year I started sitting for kids in the neighborhood.”

“Your flier mentioned references?”

“Yup. You can contact my aunt, Neela Grover, or Mrs. Tymkiw.” I rattled off the numbers. Aunt Neela has five kids, between the ages of 1 and 8. Mrs. Tymkiw has a 10 year old and a 7 year old. I figured between the two of them it would show I can handle any age.

“Well, I'll give them a call. If they check out, the job would be on Friday night from 6 to 9. I'll pay you $20. Are you available?”

“I am. But I need to check with my mom. She likes to know before I take new clients, and she might want to call and talk to you.”

“That makes sense. Let me give you my cellphone number.”

She said a number, which I wrote down, and said her name was Kristy Thomas, and she was a lawyer in Stamford if mom wanted to know.

“I'll call you back this evening and let you know.”

“Thanks, Kala.”

“Thank you, Ms. Thomas, and have a great day.”

I grinned as I hung up the phone. $20 would put a dent in my comic subscriptions.

I called my mom right away. She works at an insurance agency, and she was at her desk, so she picked up.

“Hey, mom. It's Kal. So, someone new called asking me to babysit. Her name is Ms. Thomas, and I want to let her know tonight.”

“We'll talk when I get home.” She said in Hindi. She and dad both grew up in India, so they preferred to speak it when they could. “Does Mrs. Newton know her?”

Mrs. Newton is my friend Emma's mom. Emma has an older brother the same age as one of my brothers, and we met right after my family moved here from Virginia, when I was 7. The Newton's have lived around here a lot longer then we have, so mom asks Mrs. Newton when she wants to know if something is safe, or if a family is okay to babysit for.

“I haven't asked. I'll go over and see.” I replied in Hindi.

“Good, do that after your homework.”

“Okay. I'll see you later.”

We hung up, and I pulled out my books, when my phone rang again. This time it said “ _One does not simply walk into Mordor. . .”_  so I knew it was Jan.

I've been friends with Emma longer, but these days I'm closer to Janica Snowden. She plays on the same MMO that I do, and we both like comic books and sci-fi movies. Emma and I have more similar families, we're both the youngest children, and we both have older brothers in college. I have an older brother in high school, and she has an older sister there. Jan just has a little sister who's nine.

Jan and I dress more alike. We both have long hair that we pull back casually, mine is black and hers is brown. And we both wear mostly t-shirts with comic characters or funny sayings, and jeans. Emma says that sometimes the only way you can tell us apart is that my skin is a lot darker then Jan's. Emma has shorter blonde hair that she wears down, and her style is more trendy, like fancy jeans with butterflies on the back pocket and tight t-shirts.

“I bombed my math test.” Jan groaned as soon as I said hello.

“How bad?”

“Bad. Miranda level bad. My math test created Reavers. There will be a government cover up to keep the 'verse from knowing just how bad I flunked this test.”

I laughed, “School should be exciting tomorrow.”

“What do I tell my mom?”

“That you're having trouble in math?” I said. Jan always confused me with things like this. She made them a much bigger deal then they needed to be. It was cool when it was something fun, because she got really excited. But when it was something bad, she seemed to think it was the end of the world.

“She'll ground me. No more comic books, no more babysitting, no more Supernatural marathon sleepovers, no more game. No life, ever, until I graduate.”

I sighed. “Here's the plan. Tell her I'll tutor you. That way she sees that you're trying, and we can still hang out and do homework even if she cuts you off of other things.”

“That might work. . . thanks.”

“No prob. I've got homework to do, but I'm headed to Emma's later. Want to come?”

“Sure. Give me a call.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Hey! My favorite little sister is here!” Jamie Newton grinned. Growing up I'd spent a lot of time playing with Emma, and my brother Dev was good friends with Jamie from the time they were about thirteen. Jamie always said I was his favorite little sister because I went home at the end of the day.

“Hey Jamie, what are you doing here?” I asked. Jamie was nineteen years old and lived at college now. He was tall, with blonde hair, and Jan thought he was hot. I had no opinion on that, because he was practically my brother.

“Laundry. And dinner. Oh yeah, and visiting my family.” He said, with a sly smile at his mom. She just rolled her eyes. He pulled out his phone and started texting someone.

“Mrs. Newton? I had a question. A Kristy Thomas called, looking for a babysitter, and mom wants to know if she's okay to sit for.”

Mrs. Newton looked up and smiled, and was about to say something, but Jamie had dropped his phone on the table in the middle of texting and cut in “Kristy Thomas? No fair, I want to babysit for Kristy's kids!”

Mrs. Newton laughed, “I knew the Thomas family. They used to live next door. Tell your mother Kristy is perfectly safe. She used to babysit for Jamie and Lucy all the time when she was your age.”

“She was the most awesome babysitter ever. And she coached softball, and had all these day camps and talent shows for all the kids around here. It was a blast.” Jamie said, grinning.

“She must have been really busy.” Emma said. “How do you run a day camp by yourself?”

“She had all her friends helping. There were, like, 5 or 6 of them. They were all cool. When they'd come to babysit they'd bring this box of toys, what was it they called it, mom?”

“Kid kit.” Mrs. Newton said absently.

“Yeah, good times. Good times.”

“How did they organize all of that?” I asked.

“They had a club.” Mrs. Newton answered. “The Babysitters Club. They met three nights a week at the Kishi's, across the street. I could call them there during the meetings and one of them would be able to babysit. I suppose that's where they put together all of those things.”

“That's pretty handy. Mom would love that for Mackenzie.” Jan said. Mackenzie was Jan's little sister.

“It was very useful. I suspect they were making a lot of money. I think every parent in the neighborhood used them.”

I glanced at Jan, then at Emma. They were obviously having the same thought I was. Jan grabbed my hand and darted for the stairs, “Come on, Emma. Excuse us, Mrs. Newton.”

We hurried up to Emma's room. Soon as we were inside with the door closed, Emma said “It's a really good idea.”

“It's a great idea! An amazing, wonderful, awesome idea.” Jan said, bouncing up and down a little.

“Cool your engines, Jan.” I said, frowning a little. “We have two big problems. First of all, it's not our idea. What if Ms. Thomas doesn't like us using it?”

“She can't stop us.” Emma pointed out. “It's not like she's going to sue us.”

“But she might say bad things about us to other parents. It's bad business not to ask her.” I said.

“So ask her.” Jan said.

“I will. But we have another problem. Name three days we're all free every week to have a club meeting.”

There was silence.

Janica sighed, “It was a good idea.”

“If it was late enough we could all do Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I finish my voice lesson at 7 on Wednesday, and you two are always done your Monday raid by 8.”

“And if we run late, we can just have the meeting in game.” Jan said with a grin.

“That's it!” I said.

Emma raised her eyebrows, “I'm not making a character in your stupid game.”

“No, we have the meeting at 8, but we do it on Skype! We can all be home, so our parents don't have to worry about picking us up when it's dark. We'll use my cellphone, and I'll offer jobs over chat. If someone can't make it home one of those nights, I can text the offer.”

“That's genius!” Emma said. “We'll make a schedule online so we all can update when we're free. That way we can see who can take what jobs, and Jan won't get excited and forget when she has school projects due.”

“Hey, I never do that. Usually.” Jan said. “We should see if anyone else around here wants to join, too. The more people we have, the more likely it is that someone will be free for any job.”

I nodded, “We'll ask around.”

“Speaking of asking, I guess you'll ask Ms. Thomas when you babysit for her?”

“Yeah,” I said, a little worried.

“You have to ask her. Ask her, Obi-Won, you're our only hope!” Jan said as she clasped her hands in front of her.

Emma rolled her eyes and giggled. “Dork.”

“I will. It's just. . . Jamie made Ms. Thomas seem like the Superman of babysitters. I'm, like, the Aquaman or something. I know I'm a good babysitter, I love kids, but. . . what if she thinks I'm not good enough?”

“Just do your best. Play with the kids, and make sure to clean up.”

“We could put together one of those thingies!” Jan suggested.

“Kid kits.” Emma said.

“Yeah! Like, a prototype one, until we all get our own.”

“That's a good idea. And maybe I could think of something special to do with the kids. I'll be the best babysitter ever, and then when she comes home and sees how awesome I am, she won't be able to say no!”

We spent the rest of the evening talking and making plans. We worked out a few more things, like what to call ourselves and how to let people know about us, before Jan and I went home for dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

The next day in school, we told a bunch of people about the idea, and that we were looking for members. Actually, Emma told a bunch of people. Jan and I hang out with a small group of kids, and none of them were interested in babysitting. But towards the end of the day, Patti Mayhew came up to me at my locker.

I was really confused at first. I was nowhere near cool enough to be talking to Patti Mayhew. No one in the eighth grade was, really. Jan and I were convinced that Patti was really a character from a comic book or an anime. She had short, spiky blue hair, for one thing. She dyed it sometime over the summer, and her dad let her keep it that way. Also, she was in a real rock band, with high school kids. And she wore make up, but not just lip gloss and eyeshadow like Emma, she wore thick eyeliner that made her brown eyes seem huge. Once, Jan was wearing her Scott Pilgrim t-shirt, and Patti said, “Nice shirt.” But that as much as she ever spoke to any of us. Today Patti was wearing a black button up shirt over a pink tank top and blue jeans, and big black boots.

“Hey, I heard about your club.” She said, “Are you looking for new members?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Yes. . . do you babysit?”

“Yeah. Mostly for kids my dad gives music lessons to, but I really need more jobs.” Patti's dad ran the musical instruments store in town, and gave guitar and piano lessons. No one knew where her mom was.

“Do you have references?” I said. Patti was cool, but this was a business. Dad always said not to do business with anyone who can't provide you with references, and he was a good businessman. He owned three hotels.

“Like, people I work for? Sure. I babysit for the Waters, and for the Tymkiws sometimes.”

“Hey, I babysit for the Tymkiws!” I said, amazed that I had something in common with Patti Mayhew.

She laughed, “Then I guess I'd better join your club before you take all my jobs, huh?”

“Um, yeah. . . I'll have to talk to the other members. Meetings will be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, between 8 and 8:30 over skype. People will call then and we'll hand out assignments.”

“Cool. So, let me give you my cell and you can let me know?”

“Uh, yeah.” I said. I took down her number, then rushed off to my last class. This was amazing, I was almost Jan-level excited, Patti Mayhew wanted to be in our club!

When I told Jan and Emma after school, Jan flipped out. When I asked if we wanted her to join, I didn't even get the question out before Jan screamed “Yes!”

“I don't know.” Emma said, a lot more calmly. “I mean, she looks sort of punk. Parents might not like her.”

“She's Patti Mayhew! She's awesome by default!” Jan said.

“Emma has a point. She does babysit already though. She has references.”

“She's kind of stuck up. She doesn't hang out with any of the other kids our age.”

“That's because she's hanging out with high school kids. High school kids, Emma! That's even cooler then your crowd!”

“Sheesh, Jan, will you calm down?”

“Why don't we try her out? Well have a meeting tonight to get the schedual up and organized, and invite her. And we can warn clients about her hair, and she'll have to agree that if people don't like it then someone else will get the job.”

Jan and Emma both agreed, so I texted Patti to let her know what was up.


	4. Chapter 4

That night, Jan, Emma and I were all on Skype a half an hour before the meeting. Jan had the schedule set up, and she was loading in the things we knew we'd have to work around: the times Jan and I were on our game, Emma's voice lessons, the times Jan had to babysit her sister, and my temple holidays. (Most people don't know that there's a Hindu temple in Stamford. Mom goes there all the time, but I only have to go for festivals. Luckily those are a lot of fun, since I'd miss babysitting jobs to go.)

Other then that we were just talking and joking, and we lost track of the time until Emma said “Guys, it's 8:05.”

Jan and I got really quiet. Emma said, “Do you think she's coming?”

“I don't know. I didn't hear back from her.”

“She hates us. She thinks we're the biggest losers in the world. She was probably just making fun of us.” Jan said.

“Why do you care what she thinks about us, Jan?” I said, trying to keep her from over reacting. “She's just some girl at school. I bet she doesn't even play video games.”

“Hey, I don't play video games.” Emma said.

“Yeah, but we let you hang out with us anyway.” Jan said.

“Otherwise you'd be stuck with all of those popular kids.” I giggled.

“I know, can you believe that no one at my lunch table knows the difference between Marvel comics and DJ comics?”

“DC.” I said.

“Dork.” Emma said with a grin.

“I bet Patti doesn't know the difference.” Jan said, perking up. “And I bet she doesn't know all the words to every Disney song like Emma does.”

“She's probably never even heard of Sailor Moon.” Emma added.

“Or Firefly.” I said.

Jan gasped, “How can you go through life without Firefly? That's like a world with no rainbows!”

I tried to sound serious, “Some people just aren't as lucky as we are, Jan.”

Emma giggled, and I had to laugh. Soon we were all laughing.

That when we heard the beep. We all stopped laughing right away.

“That's her! Ohmygod, answer it! Answer it!” Jan said.

I clicked the button, and after a few seconds Patti's voice said “Hello?”

“Hi,” I said. “This is Kala.” I added, because she probably didn't know my voice.

“Emma Newton. Hi.”

“HiI'mJanicaSnowden! ButyoucancallmeJan.”

“That's Jan,” I said, “In case you don't speak hyperactive jumble. It's Jan's native language.”

Patti and Emma laughed.

“Sorry I'm late. I've never used Skype, and I had to get signed up and find a mic.”

“No problem.” I said. I felt a little bad for thinking the worst of her just because she was late, even though it was Jan who started it. “We were just setting up a schedule so that we know who's available to babysit at different times. Do you have anything you'd want to put on there?”

“Yeah, my band rehearses on Saturday afternoons, and I have two gigs coming up.”

“Your band! That is so cool.” Jan said.

Patti laughed, “We're not very good, but we're not bad either. Are you guys going to the Halloween Hop this year?”

“Yeah.” Emma answered. Emma goes to all the dances. With guys.

“Jan and I usually go, since we get to wear costumes.” I said.

“Dorks.” Emma said.

“Well, my band is going to be playing there this year! I'm super excited.”

“No way! That's awesome! And I know you!”

“What is your band called?” Emma asked.

“We're called That's No Moon. It's a reference to-”

“STAR WARS! Your bands name is a reference to Star Wars!” Jan shrieked.

“Um, yeah. The guys named it. Does she have a pill she can take or something?” Patti laughed.

“She needs a pill.” Emma said.

“Relax, Jan. There are guys in high school who have seen Star Wars. This is not earth shattering news.” I said, calmly.

“And we do have a babysitting club to start. Which is why we're here.” Emma pointed out.

“Right. Meetings are for club business.” I said.

I started off by explaining everything to Patti, about Ms. Thomas calling me, and Mrs. Newton telling us about the old club. I told Patti how we were going to run it. Then I got to the hard part.

“Jan, Emma, and I were talking today, and we're afraid that some parents might think your hair and make-up is. . . weird.”

“I can wash off the make-up for jobs.” she offered.

“That's good. And would you mind if we warned people about your hair, if they don't know you? If they didn't want you babysitting for their kids, the job would have to go to someone else.”

Patti sighed, “Yeah, that's cool. Dad said if I wanted to keep my hair blue I'd have to deal with the consequences. If it turns into a big thing, I think I'll just dye it red or black or something.”

Jan sighed, “You dad lets you dye your hair. That is so cool.”

“My dad is pretty cool. He's not home a lot, though, he's usually at the shop. But I go there and hang out with him sometimes.”

“Will he let you put up fliers there?” I asked.

“Yeah! That's a great idea. A lot of parents rent their kids band instruments from us. And you know what? I bet he's let us use his paypal account.”

“For what?” Emma asked.

“If we wanted to take credit cards. Parents could pay that way, if they don't have cash, then we could stop by the shop later and dad would give us the money.”

“That's genius!” I said.

“Thanks.” She said. She sounded proud.

“Kala, have you figured out what you're going to do at your job? If Ms. Thomas doesn't agree to let us use her idea, we might have to rethink the whole club.” Emma said.

“I picked up some coloring books and crayons. And I cut up some of my old comic books, I was thinking the three year old might like to make a collage.”

“Better wait till the little one is in bed for that. She might put things in her mouth.” Jan offered.

“Good thinking.” Patti said.

“I need something better, though. Something really special.”

“You could clean her house?”

“That doesn't really show that I'm a good babysitter.”

“Maybe you could get the kids to make them presents.” Patti suggested.

“That's a good idea. What can kids make that moms like?” Emma said.

“Cards, pictures, pencil holders.” I listed.

“Boring.” Jan replied. “Cookies!”

“If you give a mom a cookie?” Patti laughed.

“Then she'll let you use her babysitting club idea!” Jan continued. We all giggled.

I thought about that for a moment, then I grinned, “Guys, I've got it! I know what I'm going to do!”


	5. Chapter 5

BSC Blog-  
Setting: Private (BSC ONLY)  
Kala Grover wrote:

So, first, the job went PERFECT. Mrs. Thomas is married to a woman, Mrs. Spier, and the one year old is Allie Spier-Thomas. The three year old is a boy named Zee Kishi, his mom is a friend they were going to a meeting with, Miss Kishi.

I had an idea, so I came prepared with some slice and bake sugar cookies and sprinkles. I checked it out with Mrs. Thomas, and she said I could use the oven, so I cut them up then let the kids decorate them. The kids loved it, Zee was really creative with using the colors to make designs on the cookies, and Allie liked shaking the bottles over the cookies. There was a little mess, but I cleaned it up while the cookies were baking.

After that I read them a book, and watched them play for a little while. Then I put Allie to bed and got out the Clone Wars coloring book and crayons I bought. Zee and I colored for the rest of the evening. (I colored an awesome picture of Yoda, Jan. I'll show you later.)

When the moms came home, I had fresh baked cookies, one kid asleep and another one very happy. They were pleased (Miss Kishi especially loved the cookies.) So I showed them the flier, and asked Mrs. Thomas if they would mind if we passed them out. It turns out they were all in the club, and they thought it was great that we were starting it again!

Mrs. Thomas must have asked me everything about how we were setting it up, and she seemed impressed by some of our ideas, like using Skype so we can meet later, and using Mr. Mayhew's paypal account so we can take credit cards. She gave me some ideas, too, like making this blog just for us, (back in her day they used a notebook. But since we're not meeting in the same place, that seemed impractical.) She also said they used to pay dues every week, so they could use that money for the kid kits, and for pizza parties. Since we all like pizza parties, I think we should consider this.

They can't wait to meet all of you. They want to hear all about your bother and sister, Emma. And they're just fine with Patti's hair. And Mrs. Spier said that she likes people who get excited, Jan, it makes her excited too.

So, I guess that's all to say, the Babysitters Club is in business! Special meeting tomorrow to pass out fliers. 11 am. Don't be late.

Comments:

Janica Snowden: OMGOMGOMG! I knew you could do it! BSC FTW! (Where did you get the Clone Wars coloring book? Want!)

Emma Newton: Dorks. Both of you. :) But I'll see both of you dorks tomorrow! Yay!

Patti Mayhew: There's nothing dorky about a coloring book. (Unless it's, like, algebra or something. That might be dorky.) But I challenge Jan to write a sentence that doesn't end in ! Or ? (LOL) Can't wait for tomorrow. And guess what? Dad's going to buy us pizza for lunch at my place. I'm super excited, I never have friends over!


End file.
